More competition and more obstacles

Probably not too much, considering baseball is not played in nearly as many countries. But, this Classic is a thorn in the side of MLS.

As the opening week of the new MLS season approaches, the Classic will be entering its final days. Who do you think will get more media attention?

These scheduling conflicts wouldn’t be a big deal, if MLS was an established league. MLS needs to be more aware of the gains other sports are making, and the media attention that they are receiving. They should always be anticipating these things, and make whatever alterations necessary. Stealing the spotlight is the name of the game for any sport, especially with the financial times as they are.

The World Baeball Classic only gives MLB more strength for its upcoming season, regardless if the U.S. wins or not.

Basketball is another sport trying to carve a bigger share of the sporting audience. The NBA’s developmental league, www.nba.com/dleague , has started to make more headlines. Now, it is owned by the NBA itself, and it has become more established in certain marketplaces. Cities like Albuquerque, Reno, Tulsa, and Austin are even more basketball oriented than they were before.

Potentially, the NBADL is stealing soccer’s thunder. Why hasn’t MLS tried to get to more mid-level cities or area’s that don’t have one of the big 3 sports?

The NBADL ends its season in late April, but I’m sure they have plans for it to continue later and later as the years go by. And, I expect they plan on franchising to more mid-range level cities or areas, as well.

Of course, there’s been some good news lately for MLS in terms of the excitement in Seattle and for the new franchises to be announced soon, but, that good news is tempered by the reality that Soccer is not attracting enough sports fans, and the big 3 keep pushing their sports more and more.

10 Responses to More competition and more obstacles

The “World” Baseball Classic is hardly a serious event and does not deserve discussion. What is Baseball’s world governing body like FIFA or FIBA? Is it the MLB? Is it the player association?

This made for TV event gets a lot of PR because it was made for TV by ESPN and Disney who have a monopoly on sports news in this country.

Baseball is a dying sport outside the Northeast and big cities of the midwest.

Your Basketball points are well taken. The NBDL is beginning to penetrate smaller markets also because a number of former college stars without NBA bodies or athleticism are in that league. I actually keep up with the league myself.

Yesterday afternoon, Alyson “Scrunchy” Footer was on the Sean & John Show on 1560 The Game. Scrunchy covers the Houston Astros for MLB.com and even she indicated that she was paying very little attention to the World Baseball Classic. For baseball fans, the WBC is an interesting peak at some competitive baseball as they pine away for warmer weather that comes with the sound of a wooden bat making contact with the ball.

I don’t think the WBC poses much, if any competition for MLS next week, instead, the big scheduling nightmare is that MLS opens when the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is staging its first rounds – one of the more exciting weekends of sports in the US.

MLS has been hurt by its own arrogance and greed more than anything else.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the league’s financial collapse, leaving maybe 10 teams would be a good thing for US Soccer long term. Over expansion, throwing money at washed up foreign players and a lack of competitive product abroad are killing this league’s perception. For many of you failure in CONCACAF simply means the other leagues take the competition more seriously than MLS- but the reality is MLS has over sold their product and while it’s great to have live soccer it’s not a compelling enough product to drive more than 20-25 miles and pay high ticket prices to watch.

MLS may not be as expensive as the Astros, but it’s an inferior product. MLB is the best baseball on the planet. MLS is like 50th best soccer league on the planet. It should MUCH MUCH cheaper.

I agree with Bryan Zygo
I think that College Basketball is the bigger threat after all its called “March Madness” for a reason. And if anything, College Basketball fans and Soccer fans are the same. The crazier the fans, the better the game (see Cameron Crazies UNC v DUKE at DUKE, lol).